ART POTTERY WORLD

An Official Moorcroft Stockist

Moorcroft Pottery Backstamps

Moorcroft Pottery is now well over a hundred years old and one of the many facets of the company which make collecting so absorbing is the variety of marks or backstamps that are to be found on the base of each piece .... well, not exactly 'each' piece; Moorcroft Lamps are, in fact, bottomless and are fixed to a wooden base.  But, except for lamps, every piece of Moorcroft bears a variety of backstamps, each providing a wealth of imformation, such as the identity of the artist and the year of design copyright.  Periodically (and often apparently abitrarily!) symbols are changed, omitted or added.  read on to find out more -

 

 

 circa 1898-1905

The very earliest pieces of Florian ware can be identified by brown markings and often bear the pattern Registration Number beneath.  William Moorcroft would usually sign each piece in green and the write word 'des' for 'designer' underneath his signature.

 

 

 

circa 1904-1913

Before setting up on his own, William Moorcroft workded for Macintyre's.  This image shows a fairly typical Macintyre & Co, Burslem mark printed in brown.  This mark can also be seen in black.

 

 

 

circa 1928-1949

From the opening of the Cobridge works, William Moorcroft used his full signature - how proud he must have been to, at last, have his own manufactury.  In 1916 William added the words 'MOORCROFT' and 'BURSLEM ENGLAND',  followed by 'MADE IN ENGLAND' in 1918.

 

 

 

circa 1928-1949

From the late 1920's, William Moorcroft used an impressed mark saying 'MADE IN ENGLAND' and an ink-stamped signature. Intriguingly, 'Potter to HM Queen' was added at this time.

 

 

 

 c1928-1953

In the early 1930's Moorcroft Pottery was increasingly found with a paper label underneath.  This was used to represent the Royal Warrant.  An early eaxample is shown, declaring 'Potter To HM The Queen'.

1936, following the death of King George V, the labelled was amended, reading 'Potter To HM Queen Mary'.

 

 

circa 1947-1953

Before his father's death, Walter Moorcroft used a grey blue colour to depict his initals.  This distinguished his mark from his father's.

When Walter Moorcroft took over the factory from his father, this is the mark he began to use with  MOORCROFT and MADE IN ENGLAND added.

 

 

circa 1950-1986

During this period, Walter used an impressed 'MOORCROFT', followed by 'MADE IN ENGLAND'.

Sometimes pieces can be seen with or without Walter's signature.

 

 

 

circa 1947-1953

At this time, Walter Moorcroft chose to distinguish special one-off pieces or 'exhibition' pieces with his full signature.  General pieces just bore his initials 'WM'.

 

 

circa 1953 - 1978

In 1946, Buckingham Palace conferred the Royal Warrant on Walter Moorcroft.  In the early years, it stated 'By Appoinment
Potters To The Late Queen Mary'.

The Royal Warrant expired in 1978 on the anniversary of Queen Mary's death.

 

 

 

circa 1983

Here's an example of Walter's signature next to an impressed MOORCROFT on a limited edition vase.  You can clearly see all the details of the piece, such as the year of manufacture, the edition size and the number od this particular piece.

 

 

 circa 1987- 2001

This William John Moorcroft initial mark appeared during this phase when John Moorcroft was involved as a director of the company and Walter held a consultanvy role.

The larger prestige pieces bore John's signature too.

 

 

circa 1990 - 2009

'Trial' Pieces -

Just occasionally, collectors can buy 'trial' pieces, in other words, pieces which were made as a design test, but were not continued with.  These are clearly marked as such, see left.

 

 2004 - the present day

From 2004, Moorcroft Pottery started applying the symbol of the designer on each piece as well as the designer's sinature on the base of all Limited Editions.  Certificates are no longer produced with Limited Editions, so the number and edition size are now marked on the base.

 

Since 1990, Moorcroft Pottery began using symbols of everyday objects as date marks.  It's simple but fun - starting in 1990 with an arrow for 'A', followed a bell for 'B' in 1991 and so-on.  As each year passes, the next letter of the alphabet is used.  An interesting anomaly was in 2006 with the letter 'Q'.  For a few weeks at the start of the year, Moorcroft pieces bore the letter Q, but then they decided on a change and went for

• 1990 - Arrow
• 1991 - Bell
• 1992 - Candlestick
• 1993 - Diamond shape
• 1994 - Eye
• 1995 - Flag
• 1996 - Gate
• 1997 - HC for Hundred Centenary year of Moorcroft Pottery
• 1998 - Iron
• 1999 - Jug
• 2000 - Key with a double M for the teeth to represent the Millenium
• 2001 - Leaf
• 2002 - Mushroom
• 2003 - Nib
• 2004 - Octagon
• 2005 - Palm Tree
• 2006 - Question Mark, then after a few weeks, this was changed to the letter Q.  Why?  Who knows?
• 2007 - Racket
• 2008 - Strawberry
• 2009 - Teapot